nuclear-news

Nuclear power- no good in heat, no good in cold?

France’s not-so-nuclear winter Greenpeace 4 Nov 09

You may remember that back in July this year, the summer weather put a third of France’s nuclear reactors out of action. It was just too darn hot to keep the reactors safely cooled and France was forced to import electricity from the UK.

So, we can expect things to improve now the colder winter weather is on the way? Er, not so much…

The subsidiary of EDF, which manages the network of power lines, said that France will have to import 4 000 megawatts (MW) of electricity “for several weeks from November 2009 to January 2010, according to a study released Friday. This is equivalent to the production of 4 nuclear reactors.

This strong dependence of France on other countries for its electricity needs is because of the downtime suffered by the French nuclear facilities this year. Fifteen of 58 nuclear reactors were shut down Friday for maintenance, uranium refuelling, because of various problems,

…..So that’s France’s nuclear: out of action when it’s hot, out of action when it’s cold.

France’s not-so-nuclear winter

November 4, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, business and costs, climate change, France | antinuclear, AREVA, EDF, France, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin